The present disclosure relates to unlocking an electronic device. In particular, this disclosure relates to detecting touchscreen input gestures from a device user and converting them to password characters used to unlock the electronic device.
A touchscreen may be an electronic visual display that a device user can control through simple or multi-touch gestures, by touching the screen with one or more fingers, a stylus or a pen. Some touchscreens may respond to finger touches and gestures, while others may be designed to respond to a special stylus or pen. The device user may use the touchscreen as an input device to interact directly with information displayed on the screen, and possibly to control how it is displayed. For example, selection choices from a menu displayed on the touchscreen may be received by the touchscreen, or the size of a displayed image, such as a map, may be altered through touchscreen input gestures.
Touchscreens may be found in a variety of applications where keyboard and mouse input devices may not allow a suitably intuitive, rapid, and/or accurate interaction by the user with the display's content. For example, touch screens may be common in devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, all-in-one computers, game consoles and automatic teller machines (ATMs). They can also be attached to computers or, as terminals, to networks. Touchscreens may play a prominent role in the design of digital appliances such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), satellite navigation devices, video games and e-books (electronic books).
A password may be a word or sequence of characters used to provide user authentication, to allow a user to gain access to an electronic resource or device. For example, a computer user may specify a password having a customizable number and sequence of characters that must be entered before access to the computer is allowed. A password may be a form of an electronic “key” that allows an authorized user to access an electronic device, while preventing unwanted or unauthorized users from accessing the device. A password may generally be short enough to be easily memorized and entered into an electronic device.